


The Professors Hollstein

by Vythian



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Danny Lawrence (mentioned) - Freeform, Domestic, F/F, Fluff, Future Fic, professors hollstein
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 07:05:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9373505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vythian/pseuds/Vythian
Summary: Laura and Carmilla never really expected to survive the apocalypse. Now, five years after they beat the odds, they're still at Silas.....with a few differences. A snapshot of Hollstein's lives as professors with special guest appearances by Laferry.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I just couldn't get the idea of Hollstein as professors out of my head, and this is the result.   
> All the building names are taken from this map (they're on the left side): http://imgur.com/f2YbcAV  
> Thanks for reading!

Laura Hollis strode down the steps of Bly Hall, stuffing midterms into her bag and waving to a few students from her Intro to Journalism class as she headed across the quad. It was a beautiful spring day, and Laura wanted to bask in the warmth of the afternoon sun, but she was craving her post-lecture hot chocolate. And she was running late. 

Of course, the line at Monet was absurd. But they had the best hot chocolate on campus, and she had already been standing here for the last eight minutes, so she might as well see it through. 

“Um, Professor Hollis?” 

Laura groaned internally, she just finished sitting through office hours and midterms, and she was not looking forward to discussing them already. She turned around and offered a small smile to the nervous-looking girl standing in line behind her. She must have been mustering the courage to talk for a while, because the line behind them was now ten people deep.

“What can I do for you Jackie?” She tried to smile encouragingly, reminding herself that having inquisitive students was always better than disinterested ones. Jackie shifted nervously, hands gripping the straps of her backpack. 

“I wanted to join the Voice of Silas and since you’re the faculty advisor you told us to talk to you but I missed your office hours today because I was studying for the midterm but I really wanted to talk to you about it before spring break next week” she blurted out.

Laura’s smile turned genuine, relief flooding through her at not having to go over the midterms still poking out of her bag. 

“Of course!” she said, “Why don’t you put together a portfolio and bring it to my office hours on Thursday? You know when they are?”

Jackie brightened and proudly rattled off the information. “School of Journalism. Bly Hall, room 228 at 2:30, right?”.

Laura smiled and nodded, wishing Jackie a pleasant rest of the day and turning to order her cocoa.

\---------------

She was so late. So so late. Like, fifteen minutes late. Laura slowed to a walk and ducked through the doors of the Robespierre Building, hoping that Carmilla’s presentations were running as long as they usually did. She strode down the twisting halls towards the auditorium, thankful (for the millionth time in the past few years) that the buildings on campus were no longer sentient. As she turned the corner, she could hear Carmilla’s voice coming from the auditorium. 

“-and if you are honestly telling me that the height of your argument is that Plato wasn’t sexist because he believed that women might have the philosophical capacity to be reborn as men, which would imply that philosophy is a male arena of thought, then you and I are at a fundamental disagreement. As such, either this is your opinion and you have no business being in my class, or you wasted the four weeks I gave you for this assignment and you have no business being in my class.”

Laura slipped through the doors and leaned against the back wall of the auditorium. She smiled, taking in the scene below her. The auditorium was nearly full, the only empty seats in a section of the first three rows just off the center of the stage. Carmilla was seated in the front row of the empty section and Laura suppressed a giggle. The freshmen were always intimidated by her, but three rows of free space? That was a record. She was staring down the terrified student standing behind the podium, the papers in her lap completely forgotten. 

“So? Which is it?” Carmilla nearly growled the words. Her student looked like he was ready to faint. 

“I-I didn’t understand the material well enough, but I will do better next time” he choked out.

Carmilla smirked, “See that you do.” 

As he scampered off-stage, Carmilla stood and addressed the rest of the class.

“Alright, paper defences are over for now. We will be moving into existentialism, so I expect you all to have read The Myth of Sisyphus the next time I see you. And remember that you should be questioning the material, but you must also be able to defend. your. work.” 

As the class began packing up their materials, Laura strode further into the auditorium to avoid being swept up in the wave of students rushing out the doors. She waited for most of the students to clear, watching as Carmilla made her way up to the podium to grab her bag and shove the rest of the papers into it. Laura reached the steps just as Carmilla was finishing up.

Carmilla turned around, her eyes softening as she caught sight of Laura waiting for her. She smiled and made her way down the steps, grabbing hold of Laura’s outstretched hand and allowing herself to be pulled closer, heart fluttering (Carmilla didn’t think she would ever get used to having a real heartbeat) as she greeted her girlfriend with a kiss.

“How was the midterm Cupcake?” she asked as they parted.

Laura smiled and shook her head. Even after five years, kissing Carmilla still left her giddy.   
“It was fine. You know how it is with intro classes, midterms are mostly sitting around and making sure everyone is actually working” Laura shrugged.

Carmilla smirked at that “Well, I don’t know about journalism, but in philosophy we encourage students to defend their ideas instead of regurgitating facts.”

“Ugh, at least in journalism we don’t torture them by interrogating randomly chosen students about the logic of their papers” Laura attempted to sound annoyed, but Carmilla just smiled.

“Fair enough” she laughed, “Are you ready to go? I just have to stop by my office.”

Laura nodded and tugged Carmilla towards the doors. 

\---------

Carmilla’s office was on the top floor. Three walls were covered with overflowing bookshelves, the wall behind her desk was more window than wall. It looked out across Artemis Park, the light of the sunset bathing the room in an orange glow. A large desk sat in front of the window, its surface completely covered in papers, folders, a large stack of books, and Carmilla’s laptop. 

Laura smiled at how different Carmilla’s office was from her own. Her office walls were lined with the same standard university shelves, but they were neatly filled with journals, magazines, stacks of newspapers, and a few textbooks. Her L-shaped desk fit neatly into a corner, its surface holding a myriad of writing utensil and paper organizers (separated by class), the light from the two windows overlooking the quad always ensuring her workspace was bright. 

She pushed herself off the wall to flop down into one of the chairs in front of the desk and answered emails on her phone as Carmilla grabbed a few books from the shelves and stuffed them into her bag.

Carmilla wandered behind her desk, pausing to shove her laptop into her bag as well before throwing on her leather jacket and grabbing two motorcycle helmets from the windowsill. 

Laura looked up just as Carmilla tossed her one of the helmets and, thankful that her girlfriend no longer had her vampire-strength, she caught it easily. 

“You know” she chuckled, “one of these days I’m not gonna catch that and you’re going to be in so much trouble.”

Carmilla laughed at that and made her way around the desk, “Well, it’s been three years and you haven’t missed yet.”

Laura smiled triumphantly. “That’s true. Now let’s go home before you find anything else to shove into that woefully overstuffed bag of yours.”

Carmilla smiled, taking her hand and leading Laura out the door as they headed for the car park.

\--------------

The 35 minute ride to their apartment in the heart of Graz was one of the best parts of Laura’s day. With her helmet securely in place and her arms wrapped tightly around Carmilla, she always marveled at how safe she felt. Even as Carmilla wove between traffic on the streets and freeways that lead them home.

They pulled into their parking space and Carmilla killed the engine. Laura hopped off and handed Carmilla her bag as they headed toward the lobby. When she turned away from the elevators leading to their 4th floor apartment, Carmilla paused, raising her eyebrow in question.

“I’m gonna go grab the mail, see you upstairs?” 

Carmilla nodded and headed to the elevator, she was no longer allowed near the mailboxes. Not after Laura caught her threatening to eviscerate their bodybuilder of a downstairs neighbor. She may be human now, but old habits died hard. Laura chuckled at the memory, glad that the guy had taken it in stride, and headed for the mailboxes on the other side of the lobby.

\-------------

Laura walked in the door, flipping through the mail as she went. Carmilla was rinsing vegetables at the sink, pots and pans already on the stove (she was a surprisingly wonderful cook). Laura would offer to help, but after she accidentally set a dishtowel on fire trying to make pasta, Carmilla had banned her from the kitchen. 

She sat at the island instead, dumping her bag onto the stool next to her and dropping the junk mail on the counter. She kicked off her shoes and started sorting through the various bills and postcards.

“We got another postcard from Danny!” Laura smiled down at the card in her hands, turning it over to admire the breathtaking mountains and architecture on the front of the postcard. 

Carmilla tossed the vegetables into a pan and turned around, “Oh? Where is Xena this time?”

“Peru. She’s going backpacking in the Andes.” 

Carmilla chuckled, “Really? Mattie and I were in Cuzco in the late 90’s, it seems right up her alley.”

She turned back to the stove, an easy quiet filling the kitchen as Laura shuffled through the rest of their mail. Carmilla absently stirred the vegetables, adding pasta to the pan with a deft hand. She may have disliked the ginger giant, but she really was happy for her. Danny had spent the past three years travelling the world, visiting with other chapters of the Summers and lending a helping hand where she could. According to Laura, she didn’t want to waste a second of the life she never thought she would get to have. 

Carmilla put the finishing touches on their plates and turned to the island, taking a moment to watch as Laura finished with the mail. She couldn't help but smile because, yea, she could really understand the sentiment.

\-------------

They ate slowly, filling each other in on the crazy students, ridiculous meetings, and random happenstances of their days between bites. Laura laughed happily as she told Carmilla about the girl in the coffee shop and how The Voice was really starting to thrive again. Carmilla was quietly proud as she told Laura about overhearing one of her graduate TAs tell a student that ‘in her class, as in life, you must be able to defend your ideals’, and that if they didn’t understand that then maybe philosophy wasn’t for them.

After dinner, Carmilla set up the laptop on the coffee table in their living room. She made sure everything was ready for their bi-weekly skype date with Laf and Perry while Laura finished cleaning up. 

They settled into the couch, Carmilla sinking into the cushions as Laura rested against her front, their feet propped up on the coffee table. She wrapped her arms around Laura’s middle and rested her chin on her shoulder as Laf and Perry appeared on the screen.

“Ugh, you guys are seriously so gross.” Laf rolled their eyes in mock exasperation.

“Lafontaine!” Perry shoved their shoulder, “That’s not very nice. Hi Laura! Hi Carmilla!”

Laura rested her hands over Carmilla’s and leaned back to place a kiss on her cheek. Laf groaned. Laura giggled. 

Carmilla smirked at the screen. “‘Sup ginger twins.” 

“Hey guys! You ready for Paris next week?”

Laf grinned “Oh totally. Two weeks in that swanky apartment that Carmilla bought with all her old-timey wealth? Perr’s already color coded her vacation checklist.”

“Well it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, Lafontaine” Perry tutted “besides, I don’t want to forget my lesson plans.”

“Oh my gosh!” Laura waved her arms around, “I almost forgot to ask! how are things going in London?” 

“You set anything on fire yet in that mad scientist lab of yours?” Carmilla drawled.

“Shut up Carmilla.” Laf broke into a grin. “It’s molecular biology, not Frankenstein’s Lab. And no. Sadly, I am still fire free. Professor Gillesby did introduce me to the engineering department though, we’re gonna work on some modifications to my kickass robo-eye. ”

They chatted for a while about the weather and what had happened since the last time they talked. Perry filled them in on her elementary schoolers, raving about the few who were picking up German surprisingly quickly. Laura and Carmilla (okay, mostly Laura) filled them in on the latest news from Silas and Danny’s adventures in South America. 

“Man,” Laf grumbled. “We really need to get everyone together. When’s she going to be back on this continent?”

Laura scrunched her face in thought. 

“She’ll be back around Christmas” Carmilla answered for her.

Three sets of eyes turned to her. She shrugged. “What? She mentioned it two postcards ago, remember?”

“Riiiiiight. You sure you’re not going soft Karnstein?” Laf’s eyes twinkled. “Because you--”

“Well,” Perry cut in “Three hundred years is a long time to perfect one’s ability to notice details.” 

“Or maybe it’s because she’s just another human now” Laf’s good-natured smile took up most of the screen.

Carmilla groaned. “Okay, I think that’s enough for tonight, see you next week.” she reached around Laura and smashed the end call button.

Laura turned to look at her, trying to sound exasperated. “You know, you’d think three hundred years of living would have taught you to be nicer.”

“Well, I have to retain some air of broody mysteriousness. Don’t I, cupcake?” Carmilla purred in her ear.

Laura burst out laughing and twisted in her arms to look at her properly. “It’s not really broody or mysterious if that’s how you’ve ended every skype call for the last year and a half, Carm.”

\---------

As she lay in bed that night, the stars shining through their skylight and illuminating Carmilla’s head on her chest, Laura reflected on what her life had become. She was a respected professor at a (now) perfectly normal university, her friends were safe and happy, and the first and last thing she saw every day was Carmilla’s beautiful smile. Carmilla, who she would grow old with. 

Five years ago, if you had asked Laura Hollis where her life would look like, she would have listed grand plans about saving the world and uncovering the truth through her writing and finding her fairytale ending. She never really thought about what happened after the fairytale ‘walk off into the sunset together’ ending. And the after, she was discovering, was the best part.


End file.
